One Normal Day
by Jyuoa
Summary: DNAlien/Highbreed arc. The team wonders about what it'd be like to be normal. But when they discover the Highbreed's plot, Julie is captured. Can they save her in time? Gwevin, Benlie.
1. Prologue

At a hidden base, a group of DNAliens were working on some kind of project. Suddenly, a wall was blown open. A few energy disks knocked some of them out. When the smoke cleared, the group rushed forward. Jetray fired at the DNAliens. Gwen and Kevin helped by taking care of the rest of them.

One of the DNAliens was sneaking up behind Gwen, but it was hit by a green beam. She looked up and saw Jetray. "Thanks." She said.

"Guys, a little help here?" Kevin was surrounded by five DNAliens. Gwen grabbed two of them with an energy ribbon so he could handle the others.

Then Jetray noticed a Highbreed coming. He grabbed Gwen and Kevin and flew out as fast as he could. He waited till they were a few feet away before changing back to Ben. "That was closer than I expected."

On the way home, it seemed a little quieter than usual. "Man, we are so going to be grounded." Gwen said. "It's way past curfew."

"Well, this was kind of an emergency." Kevin pointed out.

"Yeah, but we've also got school tomorrow." Ben added. "My mom's going to kill me for coming home so late."

"Well, like we really had much choice." They continued the long drive home.


	2. Back to School

At school the next day, the others had split up. Ben met Julie at her locker. "Hi, Ben." She said. "How'd it go last night?"

"It went well until we almost got caught." Ben told her. The cool thing about Julie was that she could keep his secret.

"That must've been close, but it's lucky you escaped unharmed."

"Yeah." Ben said. "So, we still walking home after school?"

"Of course." Julie said. "See you then." She walked off to her class.

After school, Gwen had Tae Kwon Do practice. She scanned the audience and saw the guys sitting in the bleachers. She managed to trip up her opponent. After class, the instructor came over to her. "You're doing very well, Gwen." He told her.

"Thanks, I get a lot of time to practice." She told him.

"You just might be able to make it through the upcoming tournament."

"Thanks." She said. Kevin walked over to her.

"You were awesome, you've gotta show me how to do that."

"No problem." Gwen said. Then, she did the unexpected and flipped him over.

"What was that for?"

"You said you wanted me to show you." She walked off. He watched her, still stunned by what just happened.

During the day, Kevin worked in the school's auto shop. He fixed old cars and ordered auto parts.

Hours later, Ben and Julie were walking home. "So, how'd you do on the quiz?" Julie asked.

"I did better than I thought." He told her. "I guess your tutoring helped."

"Yeah, well everyone needs a break from working too hard now and then."

"Oh, come on. You know that keeping the Earth safe is a group effort."

"You're the most important member, though." Julie pointed out. They arrived in front of her house. "So, what are you doing tonight?"

"Actually, we were going to head over to the lake." Ben told her. "It's not like an overnight thing, just stay there for a few hours."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." Julie told him. Just then, Ship appeared.

"Ship!"

"Hey, Ship." Ben said. "Long time, no see."

"He's been doing well lately." Julie said. "He's getting better at hiding from my parents."

"Well, I should get going." Ben told her. "I'll see you at school." Julie watched as he left, then headed inside with Ship.


	3. Return to the Lake

At home, Gwen was in her room getting ready for her trip, when suddenly, she sensed she was no longer alone in the room. "Who's there?" She asked.

"Is that anyway to great your grandmother?" A voice asked. A flash occurred, and Verdona appeared in her "human" form.

"Grandma Verdona!" Gwen ran over to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Just came to check in on you."

"You really should warn me when you're going to pull that." Gwen said. "Everything's been great so far. I'm entering a martial arts competition and we're getting closer to figuring out the Highbreed's plan."

"Sounds exciting." Verdona said. "You look really nice."

"Well, I'm going to the lake with my friends." Gwen explained. "They should be here any minute to pick me up."

"I'm sensing that something's bothering you." Gwen turned around and stared at her.

"What? It's…"

"Oh, come on, Gwendolyn." Verdona said. "You of all people should know that you can't hide things from me. I can sense emotions like you."

"Well, I've been a little worried about things that have been going on lately." Gwen said. "Kevin's been acting so much more distant and I'm starting to wonder if I should've even stayed here."

"You know, when you turned me down, your friends didn't influence your decision. You made that choice by yourself." Verdona pointed out. "Your still a growing girl, but you have great friends, things you like doing, staying here was the right decision for you."

"How would you know?"

"I might not know much about your race, but I do know that if you follow your heart and stay true to yourself, you'll always find the answer."

"Thanks, Grandma." Gwen said. Then she heard a horn beep. She looked out the window and saw Kevin's car. "They're here. I have to get going." She started toward the door. "Thanks for the advice, Grandma."

"Anytime, dear." She told her. In an instant, she was gone. For a minute, Gwen wondered if she'd imagined it. Then she heard the horn beep again. She ran downstairs and out the door.

"What took you so long?" Ben asked as she got in.

"I was a little busy." Gwen told him. They drove off to the lake.

When they got there, they sat near the big tree. Gwen looked at the carving in it. "So, what were you doing up there?" Kevin asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I was putting on make-up." Gwen told him. "I had, like, a huge zit on my forehead and I needed extra cover up." She turned to Ben. "So, how's it going with Julie?"

"Pretty well." Ben said. "She's been practicing for a tennis match and she seems to be doing well with Ship. Apparently, he learned how to turn into small objects, like a cell phone."

"That's interesting." Kevin said.

"Well, he is a shape-shifter." Ben pointed out. "Then again, things never seem normal around us."

"Well, we're not exactly normal, we're different."

"There's nothing wrong with that." Gwen protested. "Everyone's different, just some are more different than others."

"I hear you, sometimes I wonder what it's like to be totally normal." Ben said.

"Same here." Kevin agreed.

"Me, too." Gwen added. She looked up at the moon. It seemed brighter reflecting off the surface of the lake. After a while, she checked her phone for the time. "It's getting late. We should get back."

"Yeah, before my parents find out that I snuck out again." Ben said. "I almost got caught last night." The group headed back toward the car.


	4. The Real Plan

After school, the group was walking through the park. Julie was at tennis practice, but she promised to meet up with them later. "When was her next match again?" Gwen asked as they walked.

"I think it's next Saturday." Ben told them. Suddenly, there was a beeping sound in the distance. "Did you hear that?"

"I didn't hear anything."

"Neither did I." Kevin said.

"It sounds like an alarm or something." Ben said.

"Only one way to find out." Everyone stayed quiet for a minute and they heard it. They followed the sound. It seemed to be getting louder.

"We're definitely heading the right way." Gwen said. They found themselves at Kevin's car. His badge was causing the sound.

"Sounds like someone's trying to reach us." Ben said. The others stared at him.

"No kidding."

"Hello, anyone out there?" A voice called through the badge. "It's Alan."

"What's up?" Kevin asked.

"I'm glad to hear from you guys. I spotted a group of those aliens heading for some type of building." He told them. "I'm keeping a distance behind them, but I may need back-up."

"Alan, where are you?" Ben asked.

"I'm one mile just outside of Bellwood."

"We're on it." The group headed inside the car.

"Maybe we'll be able to find out what the Highbreed are up to this time." Ben said.

"All we know is that Earth seems to be the target." Gwen added. "Besides, we're going to have to make sure we don't get spotted by them."

At what looked like an old building. They looked around. "Guys, over here!" They found Alan behind a crate.

"So, where was the last place you saw them?" Ben asked.

"In the warehouse, but I lost them after that." He told them.

"We better go inside and check it out."

"We should keep an eye out, there's no telling how many DNAliens are in there." Gwen pointed out.

They went inside. They managed to not get caught so far. Then they saw a group of Highbreed. Gwen used one of her steps to levitate herself and her friends up.

"So, is everything ready?" One of them asked.

"Almost. Soon this planet will be no more."

"Perfect."

The group ran out undetected, but they almost got caught this time. A few DNAliens were passing by, but Gwen took them out.

"So that's they're plan." Ben realized. "They're going to destroy the Earth."

"But we still don't know why." Gwen pointed out.

"Whatever the reason, we'll find out eventually." Kevin told them.

"No matter what happens, we've got to stop them." Ben said. "For all we know, they could turn all of the people into DNAliens."

"As long as we're around, we can put a stop to it." Gwen added. They decided to head back to town and took off in the car.


	5. Captured

After practice, Julie headed for the park. Suddenly, her phone started ringing. "Hello?"

"Julie, it's me." Ben said.

"What's up?" He explained the Highbreed's plan to her. "Is there anything we can do?"

"The only way I can think of is to keep doing what we've been doing and fight them."

Julie headed home. "Ship!" She called. He ran over to her. "I'm going to need your help."

That night, the group returned to the warehouse. "Are you sure about this?" Gwen asked.

"Of course, I can't just sit back while you do all the work." Julie said.

"Do you even know how to fight?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, but don't worry about me." Julie said. "I have back up." She was holding Ship. They stopped outside, but this time, they weren't alone.

"They know we're here." Ben realized. All of them separated as the DNAliens opened fire. Ben changed into Swampfire and tried to keep them back. Gwen managed to knock out a few of them. Julie and Ship wound up running toward a dead end.

"Not good!" She realized. The DNAliens were right behind her. Suddenly, Ship turned into a fighting stick for her. She charged toward them, using it like a sword. At one point, a green beam shot out of one end.

Kevin had taken down a lot of them, but another group suddenly appeared. An energy bubble came up around him. He turned and saw Gwen helping him.

Ben changed into Echo-Echo to try and get an advantage on them, but then more showed up. He then changed into Chromastone. "Man, no matter how many we take down, more keep coming." He fired a beam at them.

Ship and Julie got separated. Suddenly, she was grabbed by two of the DNAliens. "Let me go!" She yelled. She tried to break free, but they were too strong for her. "Ben!"

He turned and saw her in trouble. He tried to help her, but then he got attacked. "Oh, no! Julie!"

"Ben!" She yelled as she was dragged away. Some of the other DNAliens followed. Ben looked in shock as she was dragged off.


	6. Hero Within

Outside, the group was just sitting around. Ben couldn't believe what had just happened. "It looks like we scared them off." Kevin said.

"They weren't even after us." Gwen realized. "This whole thing could've just been a set-up."

"Or a trap."

"This is all my fault." Ben said. They turned to face him. "Julie got involved because of me and now she's been captured by the DNAliens." Ship crawled over, letting out a disappointing squeak.

"At least Ship got away okay." Gwen observed.

"Still, it's times like this that I wish I'd never found the Omnitrix." Ben said.

"Ben, you saved many lives with the Omnitrix." Gwen pointed out. "Sometimes I wish that I never had powers either."

"We all go through it sometimes." Kevin explained. "When I was in the Null Void, I regretted having the ability to absorb things."

"Like when you…" Ben started before Gwen put a hand over his mouth. She shot him a "Don't you even say it" look.

Ship crawled over to him. "Ship."

"What is it?" Ben asked. Ship turned into an audio player.

"I guess it's hard sometimes," Julie's voice came out.

"That's Julie's voice." Ben said.

"He must've recorded some of their conversations." Gwen realized.

"Having a boyfriend that also happens to be a hero." The recording continued. "But, I know he's trying to protect us. He's the most amazing guy I've ever met. Sometimes I wish I could be there to help him." The recording stop and Ship changed back to his normal form.

"Sounds like she really believes in you, Ben." Gwen said. "She's probably waiting for you to help her."

"You're right." Ben said. "But how am I supposed to sneak in with those DNAliens guarding the entrance?"

"Leave that to us." Kevin said. He absorbed the ground.

"Ship, stay here until I call you." Ben said.

"Ship!"

They rushed over and attacked them. Gwen had grabbed one of them with an energy ribbon.

"Ben, go on!" She yelled. Ben ran inside.

__

Be careful, guys.

He thought as he ran. While the fighting outside continued, Gwen felt like she was getting weak, but knew she couldn't let Ben down. Kevin took down at least four of them. Suddenly, another group appeared outside. 


	7. Personality Conflict

Outside, the battle was getting worse. There were too many DNAliens to fight. No matter how many Gwen and Kevin fought, more appeared. "Okay, I've had just about enough of this!" Gwen said. "I'm blocking the door so that no more can get out."

A few were coming up behind her, but Kevin knocked two out. However, a third one blasted him. Gwen turned and saw him collapse. Suddenly, a group of them broke her shield. She felt her power weakening more. Kevin got up and saw her in trouble.

"Gwen, behind you!" He yelled.

"My powers…I can't…" Gwen tried to explain. Suddenly, her energy changed. In an explosion of light, she appeared to have defeated all the DNAliens outside. Kevin had shielded his eyes from the blast, but when the light had faded, he couldn't believe what he saw.

"Gwen, what's going on?" He asked. A pink light was flowing all around her.

"I don't know." She said. "But I don't feel like myself."

"Try to calm down." Kevin told her.

"It feels like it's got a mind of its own!" Gwen yelled. She felt a surge of energy. In an instant, she had looked almost like her grandmother, but still wearing her outfit. The sleeves on her top had ripped off.

"Gwen?" Kevin asked.

"That girl was so annoying." A voice that didn't sound Gwen said.

"Okay, what's going on here?" He asked.

"That human was too weak to handle so much power."

"Did you weaken her power on purpose?"

"Please, she was always channeling my power." Suddenly, something seemed to shake her.

"Kevin!" Gwen's voice broke through at last. "This thing is trying to take over my body!"

"Shut up!" The other voice said.

"No! Why don't you take your personality and leave?"

"I can't leave, I am you!"

"Please, I don't need powers just to shut you off!" Kevin stared as the two voices argued.

"Okay, enough!" He finally yelled. Gwen, still in her Anodite form, looked down at him. The Anodite's personality was gone now, allowing her to speak freely.

"Man, that was so weird." Gwen said. She looked down and saw she was still stuck like this. For some reason, she seemed to be hovering a few inches off the ground.

Kevin grabbed her hand. "Gwen, are you okay?"

"A little shaken by what happened inside, but otherwise fine." Gwen told him. "But it feels like even though the personality's gone, it's still trying to pull me away from here."

"We still have to help Ben." Kevin said. "We wouldn't be here without your help, Gwen. I think it's cool that you always help others. You can't leave us now, Gwen. I love you." She felt herself slowly descend toward the ground.

The instant her feet touched the pavement, she returned to normal. Her sleeves remained torn off, however. She looked at him. "Thank you, Kevin." She put her arms around him. He did the same.

Inside the warehouse, Ben was looking for Julie. Suddenly, an entire army of DNAliens appeared. "Oh, man!"


	8. The Trap

Ben set the dial to Humongousaur and slammed it. He took out a group of DNAliens. Soon after, he shifted to Brainstorm to shock another group. Then, he changed to Chromastone. He saw one of them struggling to stand. He took out a group, ran over, and was surprised by what he saw. "Oh, no."

In front of him, stood Julie, but she wasn't herself. Just like with Ken, she'd become a DNAlien, though half of her body was still human. Before Ben could say anything, she knocked him back. In an instant, he transformed into Big Chill.

He flew past most of the DNAliens, freezing some of them on the way. When he reached Julie, he froze her feet so that she couldn't move. "Trust me, you're going to thank me for this." He told her.

He changed back to his normal form. Julie was struggling to get free. Something was telling her to finish him off, however… "Stop talking to me…" She said quietly.

Ben stared at her. He heard what she'd said. He walked over and tried to help her, but suddenly, the watch failed. "What the…" He began.

"Not enough power to repair DNA damage." The watch said.

"Are you kidding me?" Ben couldn't believe this was happening now.

Julie was still struggling, trying not to listen to the voice in the back of her head. "I order you to destroy that vermin at once." The voice was saying.

"No, I will not destroy Ben!" She shouted. Ben was surprised for moment. He realized what was happening: Julie was trying to break free on her own.

"Julie." Ben spoke up.

"Ben?" She finally looked at him. "Ben, get away from here. It's dangerous. With what these guys have done to me, I might hurt you."

"I came in here to help you." Ben explained. "But the Omnitrix is low on power, so I don't know what to do now."

"Ben, you don't understand!" Julie said. "It's a trap! They're…" She cut off because there was a brief tremor. The roof above Ben collapsed and he was too surprised to move. Julie watched helplessly as he was about to get buried alive.


	9. Love Conquers All

"Ben!" Julie yelled as she watched the debris fall on him. Then, she could see something just under the surface.

Under the debris, Ben was expecting to feel pain, but he felt fine. He looked and saw that he was in an energy bubble. That's when he knew that the others had followed him. A second later, he came out unharmed.

"Ben, are you okay?" Gwen asked. She was standing on one of her steps.

"Yeah, thanks for the help." Ben called up to her.

"That was a close one." Julie said. "I thought you wouldn't make it."

"I've taken worse than this." Ben pointed out. "We have to get out of here."

"How?" Julie pointed out that her feet were still frozen from the battle.

"Oh, right." Ben remembered.

"You really should leave now." Julie told him. "I can't leave like this."

"Julie, you've been fighting it the whole time." Ben pointed out. "If I could help, I would." He looked at the Omnitrix. He felt so useless.

"What are you saying?" Julie asked. "You can't just give up. The Ben Tennyson I've known never gave up on anything. We all need your help." Suddenly, she began struggling again. "Oh, no! It's happening again! Get…out…now!" She yelled. She felt a surge of pain in her body.

Ben saw this and realized that the DNAlien half was taking over again. "Julie?"

"Where am I?" She asked. "I can't remember anything at all." It was as if she'd forgotten about everything that happened.

Ben stood a few feet away from her. "Julie, listen to me." He said. He thought if he could get through to her, he could help. "It's me, Ben. Your boyfriend." She seemed to remember him, but some parts were still blank.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I can't recall anything."

"Julie, try to hang in there." Ben told her. "We came here to stop an enemy's plan to destroy the Earth. You were captured and…" He broke off. He figured he should probably explain from the beginning.

After he told her everything, she seemed to remember a little. "If all that's true, then why did they kidnap me?" Julie asked.

"To lure me in here as a trap." Ben explained. "They knew I'd come in here to save you."

"Why would you want to save me?" She asked.

"Because you're pretty, smart, and you're really good at fighting. And I wouldn't want to miss your next tennis match." Ben told her. "And you've always got Ship." As if on cue, Ship appeared by his side.

"Ship."

"Ship?" Julie finally began to remember. "Now I remember. I was dragged in here by those monsters."

"But everything's going to be okay." Ben said. "I'll be right here if they try to attack again. I won't let anything hurt you."

"But why would you come in if you knew it was a trap?" Julie asked. "You could've been hurt much worse."

"I'm used to it by now." Ben said. "You don't always have to worry about me. When I'm in a fight, I don't just think about the millions of lives that I'm trying to save. I'm thinking about protecting you. I love you, Julie."

"I love you, too, Ben." Julie told him. "That's why I worry about you so much." They were next to each other. When Ben went to grab her hand, the Omnitrix started glowing.

"Okay, now what?" He asked. It was finally back to working order. His talking with Julie must've bought him enough time for it to finish recharging. "Hang on." He used it to turn her back to normal.

"I'm back." She realized. "Thank goodness that's over."

"Can you remember everything?" Ben asked, concerned.

"Yeah." Julie said. "I remember everything now. Thanks to you, Ben." Somehow, some of the other DNAliens had also changed back to humans, but they were all asleep.

"Whoa, how did…?" Ben began.

"Ship!"

"I'm guessing Ship amplified your watch's signal to effect the others at the same time as me." Julie said.

"I see why you get straight A's." Ben said.

"True, but it's nothing compared to helping you." Julie told him. He looked at her. Julie stepped closer. The two embraced, both glad that the other was safe.

"You know, about what I said…" Ben started to whisper.

"It's okay." Julie said. "I liked it." She leaned in closer. A minute later, they were kissing.

After a few minutes, Ben headed toward the entrance. "Way to go, Ben." He heard a voice say. He looked and saw a man step out of the shadows. "I'm proud of you for saving them."

"Grandpa Max." Ben realized. He couldn't believe it. He ran over to him.


	10. Epilogue

The group was outside the building now. Max watched them from a distance. "Your grandkids are truly amazing." An old woman told him.

"It runs in the family." Max responded.

The others were talking. "Well, that's one less thing to worry about." Ben was saying.

"We still better watch our backs." Gwen said. "The Highbreed could launch an attack against this planet anytime."

"We'll be ready when they do." Ben pointed out.

"Until then, we better start studying." Julie said. "We've got a final exam next week."

"I know, you've been reminding me since last week."

"Come on, you guys." Gwen said. "I've had enough fighting for one night."

"That makes two of us." Kevin added.

"Since when?" Ben asked him.

"Oh, great." Gwen turned away, thinking that the guys were about to go at it again.

"You know what, Tennyson? You can be really annoying sometimes, but you're okay." Kevin said, to her surprise.

"Thanks, I guess." Ben said. Gwen walked back over to the group. Ship was sitting by Julie's feet.

"I guess we should head home soon." Julie said.

"Yeah, I'm really tired from that battle." Gwen said. She looked over at Kevin.

"Look, a shooting star!" Julie pointed. The group looked up at the night sky as it passed overhead.


End file.
